...do not pass 'GO', do not collect $200
It was late at night, the moon sitting high in the sky. There were only a few automobiles and pedestrians on the street. The front wall of the East River Saving & Loan was made entirely of glass. A few security lights were on inside, and the vault could be seen clearly from the street. The ERS&L was secretly owned and operated by the Maggia. Unknown to the government, the crime family used the bank to launder their dirty money. The bank owned over a million dollars of Maggia money as well as deeds, mortgage papers, and bonds.
Power Man and Iron Fist stood on the sidewalk in front of the bank, searching the street for their suspects. Iron Fist wore his costume, as Luke wore his traditional yellow t-shirt and black jeans, with a black sweatshirt to protect him from the cold. "Power Man and Iron Fist, taking out bad guys, together again!" Iron Fist commented to Luke and offered his fist for a fist bump.
"We are not 'together' again, man." Luke stifled him immediately. "We're just gonna catch these bozos this time. This mystical fiddle faddle is getting on my nerves."
Luke continued to rant about his time working with the Heroes For Hire again as suddenly, the area in front of the vault began to glow and four people appeared out of thin air. It was the Frankenstein-esque monster, Tatterdemalion, and the brothers grimm teleported inside the bank.
Frankenstein's monster, at the signal from tatterdemalion used its inhuman strength to rip the vault door from its locked hinges. He then turned and hurled the stainless steel locking mechanism through the glass wall and towards Powerman and Iron Fist who stood outside."...and all i ge-" Luke complained.
"Look out!" Iron Fist shouted as he caught the flying door in his peripheral vision, and using his lightning-fast reflexes to back handspring out of the trajectory.
However, Powerman's reaction time was not as sudden and he was struck directly with the full momentum of the projectiled vault door. The force sent him and the door careening over a mailbox and into the brick wall of the apartment complex across the street, partially destroying the wall and sending brick debris falling onto Powerman.
"Gosh darn it!!" Powerman screamed from beneath the vault door as he stood, hefting it above his head with both hands.
Iron Fist, aware of the villains presence ran to the front door to find it still locked.
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As the siren alarms began to blare and their lights strobe the room, Black Widow, Daredevil, and Moon Knight sprung from their hiding spots within the bank. They had been dropped off by Frenchie in the mooncopter on a nearby rooftop and took the initiative to lay in wait for the villains to arrive. Meanwhile, Tatterdemalion ran into the vault with Moon Knight chasing close behind him. Once inside the vault he forced open a security box and stuffed its contents, a sparkling and bejeweled necklace into his coat.
The brothers Grimm immediately set to attacking Daredevil and Black Widow with a series of exploding eggs that contained corrosive acid. Then, Iron Fist jumped in through the hole made by the vault door before Powerman barrelled through the bank's entrance with the door as a battering ram. "You dropped this!" Powerman shouted to Frankenstein as he hurled the door back at him, smashing him into the opposing wall.
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Inside the vault, Tatterdemalion snatched up a handful of bond papers and stacks of cash. Moon Knight bolted in and drew his truncheon to square off against the man. "I, the Moon's Knight and guardian will not allow you to steal this money!" Moon Knight proclaimed.
"Ha! You think i want this money?!" Tatterdemalion scoffed, the chemical treatment of his glove making the paper and cloth in his hands rot and disintegrate at an accelerated rate. "I only want that nobody else should have it!"
Tatterdemalion then threw the wad of rotted paper into the air and charged at Moon Knight. Moon Knight adeptly dodged the tackle, but Tatterdemalion took the opportunity to take the misstep and trace his hand along even more exposed funds and forms. The gloves disintegrating the materials. This time, Moon Knight swung with his truncheon and missed as Tatterdemalion ducked and brushed his fingers along Moon Knights billowing cape. The cloth became contaminated and quickly began to deteriorate, the rot spreading towards Moon Knight's mask and shoulders.
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Daredevil dove and rolled to come up standing directly to the side of one of the brothers Grimm, slamming his cane into the back of the man's knee. As the second Grimm brother ran to his siblings defense, Black Widow came to that of Daredevil's and received a strong hook to her jaw.
Just behind their battle, Powerman bided time pacing around Frankenstein so Iron Fist could channel his chi. While Powerman stepped a bit further away from Frankenstein, Iron Fist leapt into the air and brought his glowing fist of chi directly into the monster's temple and the force throwing it into the floor. As the monster lay there unconscious, Iron Fist stood over it with his namesake weapon poised to deliver another blow. The glow of the chi illuminating the room.
-
Only shreds of the cloth portions of Moon Knights costume remained from his ensuing battle with Tatterdemalion. All about the vault lay lumps of saturated mold and fragments of money. Both opponents stood gazing at each other from across the vault as the blue lightning crackle of the Night Shift's magical teleportation began to fill the bank. As a final act of destruction, Tatterdemalion then reached into his coat and withdrew an incendiary grenade in each hand. He pulled the pins with his teeth and threw, one out into the bank lobby and one at Moon Knight's feet, as they teleported away.
-
A firetruck, three NYPD patrol cars, and a riot van full of S.W.F. (Special Weapons Forces) officers trained for the apprehension of metahuman criminals arrived on the scene. Officer's Mcnally and Medina were a few of the reporting officers. They ran behind the building, with their sidearms drawn as the SWF officers began to storm the bank.
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"Matt!!" Black Widow whisper-yelled to the stirring Daredevil who had been knocked unconscious in the explosion. "The cops are here! We've gotta go! They got away again."
Daredevil tried to gather his senses and accrue some idea of his surroundings. The incendiary grenade had detonated and collapsed a cement support beam that cut the bank into two sections with rock and insulation. The majority of the bank vault and the entrance were now blocked from them by building structure. The Brother's Grimm were gone. He could hear the sirens of the police vehicles outside. With the actual culprits gone the Heroes For Hire would be apprehended and investigated for the destruction of the bank. Matt Murdock's life would be destroyed if it were revealed that he and Daredevil were one and the same. Daredevil bolted onto his feet, but reeled from the blunt-force trauma to his head from the explosion. Black Widow supported Daredevil and started to walk him out the back door of the bank. Black Widow would have impunity from any legal allegations because of her affiliation with S.H.I.E.L.D., but she wished to protect the secret identity of her lover.
She rushed him into the alley behind the bank when she heard footsteps approaching quickly. "Freeze!" Officer's Medina and Mcnally yelled in unison.
Black Widow froze, unsure of what to do. She could normally elude police in such an instance but not with an injured Daredevil on her hip. She debated shooting them both with a sedative dart from her wrist-launcher. Both officers ran up to the couple, officer Mcnally slapping a pair of cuffs onto Daredevil's semi conscious form. Black Widow whipped around to fight the two cops, but before she could do a thing against them their weapons were snapped out of their hands and adhered to the wall in a web-like plaster. Black Widow watched as the lithe form of Spider-Man dropped down behind the two officers silently and he grabbed their heads to bonk their skulls together and knock them out.
"perfect timing, as always." Black widow exhaled in relief.
"Hey, us Spider themed vigilantes have to stick together. I've been trying to find you guys anyways, why is it so difficult to reach anyone? You guys don't answer your phones?" Spider-Man jested.
"We've been busy." Daredevil chimed in.
"I can see that red." Spider-Man observed as he relieved Black Widow of her burden and began to carry Daredevil. "Let's get you out of here, and you can tell me all about it."
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As Luke Cage came too he watched as the furious Moon Knight finally surrendered in a confrontation with the SWF officers and was loaded into the prisoner port of the van and the steel doors slammed shut. He was then driven to SWF headquarters where he was escorted into a high-security conference room for interrogation. The walls and doors thick titanium alloy. He was questioned by two NYPD investigators, and the session was videotaped and recorded. He was asked to recount the entirety of the night's events from his own perspective. He asked to call home to Jessica. But, his request was denied as the theft of the Starfire Necklace from East River was a matter of national security, and due to the sensitive nature of the case no calls would be allowed.
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The morning after the bank heist, Luke Cage, Danny Rand, and Marc Spector were loaded into riot van by several SWF officers. Marc Spector was confined in an intensive management cell on the transport for isolation. After driving for several minutes one of the passenger SWaF operatives turned on the vehicles radio. Danny Rand could hear the voice of the familiar local broadcaster Jimbo coming from the front of the van.
"Late last night, several super-powered individuals were arrested under suspicion of involvement in the robbery at East River Savings and Loans. A number of NYPD's SWF forces arrived on the scene to find the vault literally torn from its hinges! Numerous suspects were apprehended. Powerman, Iron Fist, and New York's favorite superhero this past week Moon Knight. These heroes are expected to appear before the 'Mask hater' Judge Clayton later today. Although it has not been confirmed by authorities, it is believed the Starfire Necklace was stolen in the robbery. The necklace is one of the crown jewels of the nation of Wakanda, whose king T'Challa is currently visiting New York for unspecified diplomatic reasons. When asked to comment about the theft, T'Challa stated that…"
As the officer switched off the radio the van came to a stop.
They then stepped out into the bright light of morning. They were on the street in front of the courthouse. Before them stood a small mob of reporters and photographers from the associated press. As their police escort led them up the steps to the courthouse, they performed well at keeping the inquiring reporters at bay. They attempted to approach and shove microphones into their faces but were aggressively shoved back by police. The question on all of their lips was "why did you rob the bank?"
-
An hour earlier, Foggy bolted upright to realize he had fallen asleep at his desk. He looked down at the puddle of drool he had left across a sheathe of legal documentation and saw the time on his clock. A mostly empty bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey and a glass tumbler of partially melted ice cubes sat nearby, as he had spent the night hard at work in the office before finally indulging in a night cap and passing out. As he sat there in the shuttered offices of Nelson & Murdock, alcohol-induced migraine exacerbated by the sepia illumination of the desk lamp, he swore he heard one of the offices windows rattle. While entirely sleep-deprived and semi-inebriated, the sound of forced entry made Foggy wholly startled. He scrambled for a pen to defend himself with, but was relieved to come across a much more dangerous paperweight to arm himself.
He sat in horror as the window to his office slid open and two forms crawled into the shadow of the room. Frightened, he threw the paperweight into the darkness at the unseen intruders. The bulky paperweight thudded against flesh and dropped to the wooden floor. "Ouch!" a woman's voice cried out of the darkness. "What the actual hell, Foggy?!"
Foggy squinted, and then grabbed his desk lamp to point its glow into the darkness. He could then see the battered form of Black Widow who carried a semi-conscious Daredevil over her shoulder. "Nat?! What are you doing here? What the hell happened?"
Foggy stood up and rushed over to Black Widow, grabbing her a stool to sit on and lead Matt over to a couch to lay on. As Natasha began to debrief Foggy on their botched sting operation, Spider-Man then crawled through the window. "Hey, Fog." Spider-Man greeted as he entered the office.
"Peter, nice to see you." Foggy greeted in return, then ran his hands across his face exasperatedly.
As Black Widow finished her tale Matt began to become more lucid. He appeared to have been heavily concussed during the explosion but was slowly regaining his senses. He sat up on the couch and leaned forward to slide his legs over the handcuffs and have his hands out in front of himself. "You think you could help me out with these cuffs, Fog?" Matt asked, his voice sounding rough and his throat bruised.
"You're lucky i had a thing with that bailiff for a while." Foggy replied as he went to his desk to extract a stolen handcuff key from a drawer. He tossed it to Matt who, after catching the key in his mouth, worked after freeing himself from the cuffs. They had been especially tight and left red rings and slight bruising around Matt's wrists.
"We've gotta get down to the courthouse, the boys are gonna need some legal counsel." Matt stated.
"Um, no…" Foggy flatly replied. "Sounds like you guys just held the shit show of the century. I don't see how Nelson & Murdock should be involved."
"Marc Spector is still a client of this firm, we can't just abandon him." Matt argued.
"Marc just got another slew of violent felonies added to his already astonishing record of criminality, and it could've just as easily been you. I thought we talked about you not doing any of this Daredevil act anymore."
"Foggy, they didn't do anything wrong. You're really ok with allowing some of the people you've known for decades to be wrongfully imprisoned?" Matt asked.
"None of what Nat's told me has made me very hopeful for even the slightest chance of getting them off the hook. This isn't good. You guys messed up big this time."
"Which is why we came to you, Foggy. If anyone could help us and dominate the courtroom, it would be you."
Foggy stood silently and looked around his office at the three costumed vigilantes. "I'm not here to clean up after Daredevil, and I'm tired of you selfishly asking me to put my own life on the line for you."
"This is more for Luke, Danny, and Marc than for myself." Matt protested.
"Are you sure about that?" Foggy asked.
-
Matt and Foggy stood at the defendants table in a courtroom in the New York Superior Court, facing the despicable Vigilante-loathing "Mask Hater" Judge Clayton. Judge Clayton was a morbidly obese man, whose robes billowed and draped in all directions. Judge Clayton wore a perpetually sour expression across his face, and his thin white hair only sprouted in wisps around the crown of his head. As the judge rifled through the impending cases paperwork he occasionally scowled at the two defense attorneys. Matt, whom looked as if he had been in a severe car accident prior to the hearing and Foggy who was visibly distressed. Given the firms proclivity towards ruthlessly fighting its cases and its success rate, Judge Clayton was preparing all of his vitriol for this small-time business.
Eventually Danny, Luke, and Marc were escorted into the courtroom and placed beside their legal counsel. The three of them garbed in orange jumpsuits and handcuffed at the wrists while shackled at the ankles. While entering the courtroom Luke tried to wave to his wife Jessica and daughter Danielle, who were present in the audience, and tried not to shed the tears he felt welling up in his eyes from the shame.
"Your honor," the District Attorney began, addressing judge Clayton. "Before you are the individual codefendants for this case. The following are one Daniel Rand, Luke Cage, and Marc Spector. They are all concurrently facing several felony allegations, the principal of which being Grand Theft, and destruction of federal property."
Judge Clayton looked down his wire-rim glasses disdainfully at the three men before him. "Are you they?" he asked the defendants. "I have something very important to tell you. These charges are very serious and you have the right to remain silent during this hearing, and that anything you say may and can be used against you throughout all future prosecution."
The three defendants confirmed in unison and allowed the first hearing proceeding continue. "it is the affidavit of the court to present the several allegations in court today, in reference to the sworn affidavits of the investigating officers documenting the reported illegal actions of the accused. In which the three defendants, on the night of Tuesday November 7th forcefully intruded into the bank premises with full deliberate intent and design to commit the aforementioned crimes." the DA spoke.
"And has proper probable cause for these allegations been accrued?" the judge asked.
"There are numerous witnesses who the District Attorney's office will be called to the stand that were outside the bank at the time of the occurrence." The DA announced.
"Objection, your honor. I am the co defendants legal counsel, and in response to the testimony of said witnesses, all of the statements made to police were under the impression that illegal entry was gained from the street store front. However, this conflicts with each of the defendant's testimony, in that no others were witnessed inside the bank at the time of forced entry. It is documented, in fact, that at the moment the internal alarms were sounded all of the cited witnesses reported fleeing the scene. The second-hand accounts of scared citizens hardly constitutes as probable cause in such a delicate matter" Foggy argued.
"Also, i would like to Take a moment to inform the court that the security camera footage that would have recorded the robbery has vanished, but even without it the state has enough physical evidence to ensure conviction, let alone probable cause." the DA succinctly told the judge.
"Ok, then Defendants, I've reviewed the probable cause affidavit filed by the state and do find for their to be probable cause, as well as guilt to be evident or the presumption free. You are going to be held with a bail bond set by the court, of $250,000 individually." the judge ordered.
"Your honor, in regards to the defendant Mr. Spector, he is also currently still involved with a case pending investigation. He was released under a bond of personal cognizance, that these new criminal allegations do hereby violate the bond thereof." The DA fired off.
"You are correct, and i order a full revocation of the personal cognizance bond in relation to prior criminal charges and place in lieu, another $250,000 bail. Due to the nature of the theft of the Starfire Necklace as well, i will set the trial date no further than one month from today." with the final statements, "Mask Hater" Judge Clayton slammed down his gavel in a mighty crack that resonated throughout the courtroom.
All three of the incarcerated Heroes For Hire looked to Matt disappointedly. Danny hung his head in shame, as Luke looked over his own shoulder to his family. As he locked eyes with his wife, she silently shaped a heart with her fingers in front of herself and little Danielle who sat in her lap. It was then Marc leapt up, livid, and flipped over the table before him. Papers, ewers and glasses of water, and the court microphones clattering about the courtroom floor. Several guards rushed in to subdue the furious Moon Knight.
-
Luke sat quietly in his cell. He had sworn an oath to himself, His best friend Danny, his wife Jessica, and his daughter Danielle that he would never place himself into a position where he sat behind bars again. Incarceration had already traumatized him and poisoned his mind enough when he had served a sentence of wrongful imprisonment, was subjected to sadistic experimentation and given his powers. It was a place for all of the people he cleaned off the streets, not for him. He began to feel claustrophobic as the overhead light flickered. There was no way he could see being released. The Night Shift had been another full step ahead of the Heroes For Hire and had successfully set them up for a mighty fall. The total bail to get Luke, Danny, and Marc out of jail was a million dollars. There was no way they could secure those funds. Danny Rand had long ago transformed his once multi-billion dollar corporation into the world's largest non-profit organization for the betterment of humanity, and Danny used his home as a martial arts school. Heroes For Hire had just restarted operation, and had yet to even be paid for its first case as the book was still in the possession of its thieves. Marc seemed to have an indeterminate sum of money secreted away, but its accessibility and usefulness in bailing them out was unknown to all except Marc himself. The three of them, being co defendants, were being house separately and in isolation. It was as Luke's hands began to shake from an imminent panic attack that the door to his cell began to click open. The small guard in simple uniform looked into the cell at Luke and said plainly, "Cage, roll it up, you've met bail."
-
"Hey, Matt. How's it going?" Peter Parker answered his cell phone.
"Did you bail the guys out of jail?" Matt asked.
"Are you kidding? I'm sorry, but there's no way i could. One, i may be doing pretty well for myself these days but i still don't have a million dollars to pour into the courts to make bail money. Two, i can't just go and make myself known as a patron for superheroes, it would raise to many questions, and we both know how important it is to maintain secrecy." Peter explained.
"Well, someone bailed them out. The bondsman was paid anonymously. Who could've done that?"
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